collect call

American  

noun

1. a long-distance telephone call that is to be paid for by the person or station receiving it.

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Etymology

Origin of collect call

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

“Here it is like 10 o’clock at night, who’s answering the phone? A collect call at that?”

From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2020

It has been almost two weeks, and he still will not even answer the phone, possibly a collect call from Stockholm.

From Washington Post • Oct. 27, 2016

In particular, he said a collect call McCullough made from the Rockford post office on the night when Maria disappeared showed that it would have been impossible for McCullough to have abducted the girl.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 5, 2016

But when he made the collect call to his mother, she was having none of it.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2014

I said, “Not yet. Big Ma hasn’t gotten over the collect call from yesterday. We gotta get up enough dimes to make a real call across the country.”

From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Related Words

• local call
• long-distance call
• phone call
• telephone conversation